A brief Immigrant Timeline for Hawaii

[urbanguy]

Marquesans: 500 A.D.?

500 A.D. Marquesans?

750 A.D. Radiocarbon tests done on soil samples taken from early settlement sites on the island of Hawaii indicate that the islands were being already populated

Tahitians: 1000 A.D.?

1000 A.D. Tahitians?

British: 1778

1778 Arrival of Captain James Cook at Waimea, Kauai

Chinese: 1789

1788 Captain John Meares sailed from China to the Pacific Islands, commanding two vessels with crews of Europeans and fifty Chinese including artisans and carpenters

1789 Captain Simon Metcalfe on the schooner Eleanora reached Maui from Macau with a crew of ten Americans and forty-five Chinese. Some remained on the islands and married native women

1852 January 3rd the first wave of Chinese immigrant laborers from Hong Kong are brought into the islands from Amoy. There was a total of 175 field hands and 20 domestic servants who were house boys

1883 The Government of Hawaii restricts Chinese entry to 600 immigrants per 3-month period

By 1884, this number had risen to 25,256. The Chinese people who migrated to Hawaii were mostly Cantonese from the Pearl River Delta near Macau. Quite a few Chinese married Hawaiian women. As a result, Hawaiian-Chinese families are common in Hawaii today

1900 Hawaii is annexed to the U.S.; further importation of Chinese is prohibited. George Wilcox, Grove Farm Plantation, and other planters consider importing laborers from Puerto Rico, Italy, Portugal, and blacks from the southern U.S

Russians: 1804

1804 Russian vessels brought residents of the imperial domain of Catherine II to Hawaii during the reign of Kamehameha I. The Russians were befriended by Kaumuali'i of Kauai and later by King Kamehameha, and food and provisions were offered to them in exchange for sea otter skins

1815 Russian American Trading Co.s Dr. Georg Scheffer given permission by Kaumualii to build forts at Waimea and Hanalei, expelled in 1817

In 1897, approximately 2,000 Russians and Ukrainians were recruited to work on sugar plantations in Hawaii

African Americans: 1810

1810 Blacks first came to Hawaii as crew members of merchant ships in the early nineteenth century but an African American businessman named Anthony Allen landed in the islands and established a boarding house, a "dram shop" (saloon), and an informal hospital for both sailors and Hawaiians

Vaqueros: 1833

1833 Vaqueros from Mexico arrived to teach Hawaiians how to manage cattle

I-Kiribati (Gilbert Islanders): 1860s

Banaban (Ocean Idlanders): 1860s

Japanese: 1868

1258 Shipwrecked Japanese sailors are said to have landed on O'ahu. Japanese drifted in battered boats to Makapu'u Point.

1868 The first 153 Japanese laborers known as gannenmono, leave Japan and arrive in Hawaii

1885 First large group of Japanese immigrants arrives, 666 men, 158 women, 69 boys and 48 girls

In 1890 there were 12,610 Japanese listed in the census and the figure grew to 61,111 by 1900

Portuguese: 1877

1877 First group of Portuguese contract laborers are recruited in the Azores

1877 First group of Portuguese contract laborers are recruited in the Madeira

Between 1878-1884, 9,471 Portuguese workers arrive

Between 1878 and 1887, most of the 17,500 Portuguese contract workers for Hawaii's plantations arrived from Azores, Madeira, Portugal, & Cape Verde

Cape Verdeans: 1880

Norwegians (Scandinavians): 1880

1880 A group of 629 Norwegians is recruited by Castle and Cooke and sets sail for Hawaii

Swedes: 1880/1881

Germans: 1881

1881 German immigrants are recruited to the Hawaiian islands. Under the care of a Kauai sugar plantation, they formed a successful community that continued many of their homeland customs

Between 1881 and 1897, some 1,400 came and thrived under the Kauai plantation's paternalistic structure

Ukrainians: 1897

In 1897, approximately 2,000 Russians and Ukrainians were recruited to work on sugar plantations in Hawaii

Polish: 1800s (Late)

Spanish: 1898

1500s old maps and artificats indicate the Spanish had arrived as early as the 1500s

1898 First Spanish laborers arrive

1907 about 2,250 Spanish workers from Malaga/Andulsia arrive to work on the plantations

Puerto Ricans: 1900

In response to promises of free transportation, housing, education, and medical care, 5,203 Puerto Ricans left their homeland to move to Hawaii

Due to some similarities in culture and general appearance, the Puerto Ricans intermarried frequently with Filipinos, Portuguese, Spaniards and Hawaiians

The 1950 census, the last in Hawaii which counted Puerto Ricans as a separate group, gave a Puerto Rican population of 10,000

Okinawans: 1900

Twenty-six Okinawan men arrived in Honolulu in the first group in January. They were followed by more than 8,000 Okinawan workers over the next eight years when government regulations curtailed migration

Some 25,000 men, women, and children left their impoverished Okinawan homeland between 1900 and 1924, hoping for a better life in Hawai'i

Austrians: late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries

The first 372 Austrians arrive to work in the plantations

Italians: late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries

The first 84 Italians arrive to work in the plantations

Scots/Scottish: late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, 372 Austrians, 84 Italians, a few Scots and about 100 White Americans also had their impor-tation subsidized by government or plantations

Koreans: 1903

1902 The first 16 Korean laborers arrive

Jan. 17, 1903

[Scott]

Wow that was really interesting! I'll have to look into compiling one for Massachusetts.

[M II A II R II K]

Great list you have there! Alot of action for such a small place!

[urbanguy]

^Yeah thanks to the plantation days they recruited people from all over the world as well as the mormon church which brought over the Samoans, Tongans, and many other Pacific Islander groups. This state was definately way ahead of its time back then and because many of the different ethnic groups worked and live together it also help contribute to the creole language here which is a mixture of Spanish, Portuguese, Hawaiian, Samoan, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, etc words thrown in with english but structured around the Cape Verdean creole of "VOS" verb object subject..not only that you can see it in the cuisines here its a mixture of everything not too mention when going to a convience store like 711 and being able to buy pasteles, hum bow, pork hash, lumpia, malassadas, pao doce, mochi crunch, musubi, sushi, etc to the regular stuff like hot dogs and potato wedges haha or going to mcdonalds and ordering linguica, eggs, and sticky rice for breakfast or saimin, lumpia, to even spam. haha Its so awesome its not your ordinairy state/city and even for its size its an exception to the rule diversity is a way of life here for everyone not just something you'll see at an ethnic restaurant or enclave like many other places.... you can also see it by the mixing of races here over a quarter of the people are mixed race higher than any other state in the country the next highest is at a mere 5%, over 50% of all couples or marriages are inter-racial in Hawaii too. Customs, superstisions, etc have also been passed on to the people that live here as well even to people that are not of that ethnic group or race for which it came its just how it is here...people live a multi-cultural lifestyle which not many other places can claim that the way Hawaii can sure there are many that are multi-cultural but not all the citizens live it as mixed like it is here, its hard to explain in words what has evolved here from its long ass history of mixing cultures.

Scott, btw that would be great id love to see it!

[Wendell FOX]

Is this multiculturalism mostly confined to Honolulu or evenly spread out throughout all the islands?

[urbanguy]

^Its throughout the islands and so is the creole language, cuisines, etc that was developed from the mixing of cultures. I dont know of any other place that has a creole language that is based on so many different languages as the one in Hawaii i know theres one in South America called Brazilero which is a mixture of Portuguese, Spanish, & Italian but most seem to be only two languages. Things are so mixed and like a part of daily life here that sometimes its hard to tell where something originated, cause even growing up here people have adopted so many different customs, superstisions (sp?), cooking, etc from so many cultures that its just a part of life. For example growing up my parents would get upset if i would walk on my knees or walk over someone that may have been laying down or cut my finger nails at night etc it was a no no which was adopted from the Filipino's, eating sticky rice with nearly every meal instead of potatos, taking off your shoes before entering someones home, etc etc or like lets say you take a plant from a forest you give something back in return for taking it just leave something basically. I can go on and on its hard to put into words what its like here and just how multi-cultural it is its way different from any other place and i think a lot of it had to do it with the plantation days when tons of different races, ethnicities, cultures had to work together and live side by side thats also when Pigin or Hawaii Creole was developed it was a form of communication and a version of english that they could all understand.

[sao paulo]

really interesting info... thanks.

[monsoon]

[Allan]

This was very intersting. Hawaii is certainly a very diverse place.

BTW, welcome to the forum, rollerama.